Fate on Fire - E. L. Todd Page 0,2
someone new and trying to force a connection seemed stupid. Besides…I was pregnant. I wouldn’t have a date for a really, really long time. “No, I don’t think I’ll be dating for quite a while.”
He sighed with disappointment. “Char, this guy has monopolized so much of your time already. Before that was Cameron. You need to find a guy who will give you what you deserve. Don’t let either of those guys take up another moment of your life.”
“That’s not why…”
“You’ll fall in love with someone new eventually. I promise.”
“That isn’t why either.”
“Then why?” he asked, his shoulder touching mine.
Kyle would find out sooner or later, and he would keep my secret if I asked him to. “I…I’m pregnant.”
Kyle was still, so still he wasn’t even breathing.
I stared straight ahead, not wanting to see his reaction.
It took him a full thirty seconds to process what I said. “Char…what?”
“I couldn’t believe it either. Cameron called me a few days ago and said I’m not the problem…he is.”
“Jesus Christ,” he said with a sarcastic laugh. “Talk about karma.”
“It is ironic, isn’t it?”
“Fucking ironic.” His hands came together and rested against his mouth. “And Neil left anyway?”
“He doesn’t know…and I’m not sure if I’ll ever tell him.”
He slowly lowered his hands and turned to me. “Char, the guy deserves to know.”
“But I can’t tell him now. He’s on an extremely dangerous mission, and this news is so big… He doesn’t have time to deal with it right now. Plus, there’s nothing he can do about it anyway. It’s better he doesn’t know.”
“And when he comes back?”
“The baby will be two, and Neil doesn’t want to have kids. He said it’s not for him.”
“Maybe you should give him the option to stay or walk away.”
“I know Neil,” I said. “He’ll stay out of obligation, and that’s not what I want.”
“But you can’t keep this a secret. Stacy and Vic will see right through it.”
“I know…”
“So, you’ll have to come clean eventually.”
“I know…” There was no way around it, unless I started dating someone else and pretended it was his. Then the guy disappeared, and I would do it alone. “I’m not sure what to do. If I could just raise this baby on my own, I would. I don’t want Neil to be here when he doesn’t really want to be, and having him around will sabotage any future relationship I try to have. It’s just…complicated.”
Kyle cocked his head, thinking about what I said for a long time.
The baby wasn’t even here yet, and my life was already totally different.
Kyle turned back to me, resting his forearms on his knees. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
He stared at me for a long time, his gaze calm. “What if we pretend it’s mine?”
I stared at him for several seconds, zoning out because I couldn’t fathom what he’d just said.
“You can tell Stacy we started to hook up because you were lonely, and then they’ll assume the baby is mine. You won’t have to put Neil into an obligation he doesn’t want, and Vic and Stacy won’t know the difference.”
It was such a ridiculous offer that I couldn’t even respond. My mouth was open as if words would emerge, but I still couldn’t say anything. Kyle just offered to be the father of my child, not thinking twice about it before he decided to change his life forever. “Kyle…that’s insane.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“That would make you a father to a baby that’s not even yours. That’s crazy.”
He shrugged. “I would love it like it’s my own.”
In that moment, I really understood how much Kyle loved me, that he would do anything to be with me. He would settle for half of my heart since I loved another man, and he would father a child that wasn’t even his. Only someone stupidly in love would do something like that. I continued to give my heart to men who didn’t love me, when there was a man who would die for me right beside me. “Kyle…” My eyes watered from the tsunami of emotion. “I can’t let you do that.”
“I want to do it. Because if I agree to this, there’s something I want in return.”
“Alright…what?”
His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine. “You.”
He wanted to father another’s man child just so he could be with me. He wanted to love me when I loved someone else. Kyle was smart, sexy, and amazing…but he wanted to be with me instead of all the other beautiful women